With 25 years of experience, the charter sector has had enough time to experience a host of unanticipated and unresolved problems related to the complex ways in which charter school governance relates to school leadership. The time has come for the sector to revisit some fundamental decisions about how charter schools and networks are governed,…

In November 2015, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration--a coalition of nine professional associations--adopted the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL), a set of guidelines for the training, certification, hiring, evaluation, and supervision of school principals and superintendents. While it draws heavily from…

For a "Kappan" issue focusing on the job of the principal, this is an essay from a retired, longtime principal and superintendent. "I have notebooks full of advice that I've collected over the years: tips, mantras, cautions, and quotations appropriate for any occasion," the author says. "I learned to focus less on…

Recent attempts to inflate school administrator credentials may have unanticipated negative consequences. As educational administration moves toward becoming a separate profession, administrators focus more on management, leaving teaching and learning (Wilensky's "dirty work") to teachers. The new professionalism should stress shared…

To cope with declining high school enrollments, administrators can find new clients, programs, and functions or can cut back by dropping "frills" or closing schools. Guidelines for cuts include three approaches: the rational, cutting the least effective programs; the political, acknowledging political realities; and the symbolic,…

Authoritarian management systems, best suited to institutions that enjoy a relatively high degree of uniformity, are not appropriate for public education. In nine proposals the author urges a major realignment of the roles and relationships of a district's professional educators, to create a uniquely suitable educational management system.…

Education reform has wrongly focused on teacher motivation and rewards, when the organizational system itself is at fault. Research shows that effective school management hinges on increased individual discretion and decision-making opportunities for teachers and less controlling behavior by administrators. Ten characteristics of effective…

Identifies two major administrative problems: (1) schools need instructional leadership, but management tasks take most of a principal's time, and (2) teachers want professional development leadership to come from within their own ranks. Examines myths and realities of the principal's role and describes master teacher leadership structures already…